THE EDITOR, Sir:
I JUST finished reading the column (7/5/06) by Peter Espeut and I could not agree more with his findings.
I graduated from one of the junior secondary schools in western Jamaica that was later 'rebaptised' to a high school. All my life I have felt that I was robbed of an essential rite of passage because I was not an attendee at one of the traditional high schools in Jamaica. Even now, though a fairly well-educated person, in many a social gathering where reminiscing on 'the good old days' at school discussions inevitably comes up, I have had some measure of discomfort disclosing the school I graduated from.
Fortunately for me, my saving grace was my stepfather who worked in the library system, and who ensured that I had all the books I wanted to read, and then some. So from age 10 or so, I became a voracious reader, thus opening up to me a world that would have been closed and unimaginable before. To my lasting regret and distress, later on in my school life when the opportunity presented itself, monetary and other constraints prevented me from attending a traditional high school when I became eligible.
I have never got over the real or imagined stigma that is attached to someone who has never attended one of these traditional high schools, even though over the years, on my own, I sat and passed the GCE exams, migrated to the USA and became a graduate of the University of Maryland.
SAVED BY ANGELS
I have always held the firm belief that Jamaica's school system was in large measure elitist and racist in its operation. And it is only through the helping angels placed in my path by the Creator and the doors opened by my intense reading all my life, that saved me from being in the ranking of the common labourer relegated to the coffee, banana and sugar plantations and with perhaps six 'hungry belly' children to boot.
Based on the recent results from the CXC exams, I hope our new lady Prime Minister will now ensure that all Jamaicans, rich, poor, black, brown, white, yellow or green, will all be given the opportunity to attend a high school, with all the right amenities, so they can all achieve academically to their fullest potential.
Stop this rubbish of all-age schools, junior secondary schools, low grade high schools etc. etc., and make them all high schools!
I am, etc.,
I.R. JOHNSON
ijohnson@howard.edu
Washington, DC
Via Go-Jamaica
